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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 354 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 354

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
          safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2015

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. 
   Engel, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Ms. Granger, Mr. Israel, and Mr. Roskam) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
          safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe.

Whereas anti-Semitic rhetoric and acts, including violent attacks on people and 
        places of faith, have increased in frequency, variety, and severity in 
        many countries in Europe;
Whereas the French Service de Protection de la Communaute Juive (Jewish 
        Community Security Service) reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts in 
        France between 2013 to 2014 (from 423 acts to 851), including an 
        increase in violent ones (from 105 acts to 241); the Community Security 
        Trust reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts in the United Kingdom 
        between 2013 to 2014 (from 535 acts to 1,168), including an increase in 
        violent ones (from 69 to 81); and the Kantor Center for the Study of 
        Contemporary European Jewry reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts 
        between 2013 and 2014 in Germany (from 788 acts to 1076, including 36 
        violent acts to 76), Belgium (from 64 acts to 109, including 11 violent 
        acts to 30), Austria (from 137 acts to 255, including 4 violent acts to 
        9), and Italy (from 45 to 90, including 12 violent acts to 23);
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported, in its latest available 
        statistics, 870 incidents in 2012 with anti-Jewish bias motivation, 
        including 13 violent incidents, and 625 incidents in 2013 with anti-
        Jewish bias motivation, including four violent incidents;
Whereas anti-Semitic attacks have been increasingly directed at places of 
        ordinary daily life and places of worship, including--

    (1) the violent extremist who pledged his loyalty to the Islamic State 
of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris, 
France, January 9, 2015, murdering four Jewish patrons; and

    (2) the violent extremist who pledged his loyalty to ISIS and attacked 
the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a bat mitzvah 
celebration, February 15, 2015, murdering a member of the Jewish community 
on security duty, and wounding two members of the Danish Police Service;

Whereas anti-Semitic attacks are threats to the fundamental freedoms, rights, 
        security, and diversity of all citizens, societies, and countries in 
        which they occur;
Whereas governments have primary responsibility for the security and safety of 
        all of their citizens and therefore primary responsibility for 
        monitoring, preventing, and responding to anti-Semitic violence;
Whereas Jewish community groups that focus on strengthening safety awareness, 
        crisis management, and preparedness are essential to keeping members of 
        the Jewish community safe, and complement efforts of government and 
        inter-governmental entities;
Whereas keeping members of Jewish communities safe requires government agencies, 
        intergovernmental institutions and agencies, and law enforcement 
        associations, formally recognizing and partnering with Jewish community 
        groups that focus on safety awareness and crisis management and 
        preparedness;
Whereas in the United States, United Kingdom, and France, there are examples of 
        formal recognition, partnership, training, and information-sharing 
        between government entities and Jewish community security groups that 
        have strengthened these countries and contributed to the safety and 
        security of Jewish communities;
Whereas Jewish community groups, consortia, and initiatives, have formed and are 
        forming to focus on safety awareness, crisis management, and 
        preparedness, and partner with law enforcement entities and thought 
        leaders;
Whereas information-sharing and action-focused campaigns, including the national 
        ``If You See Something, Say Something'' campaign of the Department of 
        Homeland Security, which rely on members of the public reporting 
        suspicious activity to law enforcement personnel, are critical to 
        preventing violent attacks on individuals and communities;
Whereas relevant information, research, and analysis is vital to strengthening 
        the preparedness, prevention, mitigation, and response of Jewish 
        communities and law enforcement agencies;
Whereas broader efforts to counter violent extremism, and efforts to counter 
        anti-Semitism, should be integrated with each other as appropriate and 
        share best practices;
Whereas in the Berlin Declaration of April 29, 2004, participating States of the 
        Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) condemned 
        anti-Semitism and committed themselves to specific actions to combat it, 
        including to combat hate crimes and to collect and maintain reliable 
        information and statistics about anti-Semitic crimes;
Whereas, on December 6, 2013, the Ministerial Council of the OSCE, which is 
        composed of the Foreign Ministers of participating States, adopted 
        Decision number 3/13 entitled ``Freedom of Thought, Conscience, 
        Religion, or Belief'', emphasizing ``the link between security and full 
        respect for the freedom of thought'', and committing member governments 
        to adopt ``policies to promote respect and protection for places of 
        worship and religious sites, religious monuments, cemeteries and shrines 
        against vandalism and destruction'', among other specific actions;
Whereas, on December 5, 2014, the Ministerial Council of the OSCE adopted 
        Declaration number 8, the Basel Declaration, on ``Enhancing Efforts to 
        Combat Anti-Semitism'', in which members of the Council stated, ``We 
        express our concern at the disconcerting number of anti-Semitic 
        incidents that continue to take place in the OSCE area and remain a 
        challenge to stability and security'' and ``We stress the importance of 
        States collaborating with civil society through effective partnerships 
        and strengthened dialogue and co-operation on combating anti-Semitism''; 
        and
Whereas in 2004, Congress passed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, which 
        established an Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, headed by a 
        Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) urges the United States Government, including the 
        Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 
        Attorney General, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation, to work closely with European governments and 
        their law enforcement agencies, the Organization for Security 
        and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), European Union, Europol, and 
        Interpol, encouraging and enabling them to--
                    (A) formally recognize, partner with, and train 
                Jewish community groups focused on strengthening 
                preparedness, mitigation, and response related to anti-
                Semitic attacks;
                    (B) support initiatives to research, analyze, and 
                strengthen the preparedness, mitigation, and response 
                of Jewish community groups and law enforcement agencies 
                to anti-Semitic attacks;
                    (C) share essential, relevant information with, and 
                have clear, open channels to receive and respond to 
                information from, Jewish community groups focused on 
                strengthening preparedness, mitigation, and response 
                related to anti-Semitic attacks;
                    (D) consider formal partnerships in the United 
                States, United Kingdom, and France, between government 
                entities and Jewish community security groups as 
                examples of government recognition of partnership, 
                training, and information-sharing, with Jewish 
                community security groups;
                    (E) support assessments of the--
                            (i) general environment of hate crimes, the 
                        broader context for understanding the 
                        environment for anti-Semitic attacks;
                            (ii) anti-Semitism environment that 
                        includes gathering and analyzing data on crimes 
                        committed, response from law enforcement, types 
                        of attacks or incidents that are most 
                        prevalent, types of targets that are most at-
                        risk, and that draw information from sources 
                        that include Jewish groups, law enforcement 
                        agencies, and independent human rights 
                        nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other 
                        civil society groups and leaders;
                            (iii) capabilities, resources, and 
                        relationships of Jewish community groups with 
                        local law enforcement agencies;
                            (iv) preparedness, including emergency 
                        response plans and extent to which 
                        decisionmaking is based on the best available 
                        information, analysis, and practices, of Jewish 
                        community groups that focus on the safety of 
                        members of the Jewish community;
                            (v) response of local law enforcement 
                        systems to anti-Semitic incidents, including 
                        hate-crime reporting, how law enforcement 
                        agencies usually receive reports of anti-
                        Semitic crimes, the initial course of action 
                        when a report is filed, the extent to which 
                        anti-Semitic crimes are prioritized and 
                        prosecuted, the processes of investigating and 
                        gaining information about the crime, and ways 
                        in which law enforcement agencies work with 
                        prosecutors; and
                            (vi) communication and cooperation between 
                        European governments, intergovernmental, and 
                        interorganizational entities on combating anti-
                        Semitism, especially anti-Semitic violence;
                    (F) make necessary adjustments to their strategies 
                and efforts to combat anti-Semitism, particularly 
                violent attacks on Jewish communities, based on these 
                assessments;
                    (G) help Jewish communities develop common, 
                baseline safety standards, especially for community 
                service organizations that focus on preparedness, 
                mitigation, and response, including for training, 
                controlling access to physical facilities, physical 
                security measures, crisis communications, emergency 
                exercises and simulations, mapping access to 
                facilities, and sharing of information with law 
                enforcement agencies and other partners;
                    (H) develop and implement a standardized pan-
                European information-sharing, communication, and 
                alerting system between governments, inter-governmental 
                agencies, and Jewish communities, that functions day-
                round and year-round and includes training for 
                personnel implementing such a system;
                    (I) develop and implement safety-awareness and 
                suspicious activity reporting campaigns;
                    (J) integrate, as appropriate, efforts to combat 
                violent extremism and efforts to combat anti-Semitism 
                with each other and share best practices related to 
                both;
                    (K) ensure law enforcement personnel are 
                effectively trained to monitor, prevent, and respond to 
                anti-Semitic violence, and partner with Jewish 
                communities;
                    (L) reaffirm and work for the implementation of the 
                OSCE declarations, decisions, and other commitments, 
                particularly those focusing on anti-Semitism;
                    (M) ensure senior officials, with commensurate 
                authority and resources, have been appointed or 
                designated to combat anti-Semitism and collaborate with 
                governmental and inter-governmental agencies, law 
                enforcement agencies, Jewish community groups, and 
                other civil society groups; and
                    (N) work closely with associations of law 
                enforcement professionals, and other relevant 
                professional entities, to combat anti-Semitism and 
                particularly to actualize the goals of this resolution;
            (2) reaffirms its support for the mandate of the United 
        States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism as 
        part of the broader policy priority of fostering international 
        religious freedom;
            (3) urges the Secretary of State to continue robust United 
        States reporting on anti-Semitism by the Department of State 
        and the Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism; and
            (4) calls on the President to report to Congress, not later 
        than one year after this resolution is passed, on the United 
        States Government's implementation of this resolution.
                                 <all>
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